Characteristics of Rem Sleep following Different Conditioned Rates of Waking Eye Movement in the Monkey

Abstract

Generalization of conditioned rates of waking eye movement to REM sleep was investigated. High and low rates of waking eye movement were conditioned in 4 monkeys, using schedules of fixed-ratio reinforcement (FR6) and discriminated differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL5), with the EOG as the operant. Ss were then run for 6 successive nights on the FR6 schedule and 6 successive nights on the DRL5 schedule prior to falling asleep, with the schedule order counterbalanced for the 4 Ss. The rate of REM and total number of REMs were higher ( p < .001) during longer REM sleep periods ( p < .025) following low rates of waking eye movement than following high rates. Similar effects were absent in a fifth yoked-control S. The results cannot be explained by conventional learning mechanisms; but they are consistent with the hypothesis that REM sleep furnishes periodic innervation of the oculomotor system to maintain facilitation of binocularly coordinated eye movement into subsequent wakefulness.